Being 20 years old, I only know of Fox as the primary network that has tried its hand and succeeded at airing cartoons in primetime (i.e. The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Futurama, King of the Hill the list goes on). They even call their cartoon block "Animation Domination". But I don't ever recall any of the other networks showing cartoons. Why is this? Would NBC, CBS, or ABC air a new cartoon in primetime in this day and age of TV?
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Cartoons in primetime
- Thread starter radioguy555
- Start date
ABC did run several primetime cartoons, but that was a long time ago -- back in the early and mid sixties. The ABC primetime cartoons included "The Flinstones", "The Jetsons", and "Johny Quest".
In the nineties, NBC ran a primetime cartoon called "God, the Devil, and Bob" -- but it flopped and disappeared after just a few episodes. A few years ago, they made another attempt at primetime animation with the computer animated "Pride of the Family" (sorry if got the name wrong -- anyone feel free to correct this). While not really a cartoon, "Dinosaurs" on ABC in the early nineties is also worth a mention. And I vaguely recall something that ran on CBS briefly in the nineties ("Shark Police"?).
In the nineties, NBC ran a primetime cartoon called "God, the Devil, and Bob" -- but it flopped and disappeared after just a few episodes. A few years ago, they made another attempt at primetime animation with the computer animated "Pride of the Family" (sorry if got the name wrong -- anyone feel free to correct this). While not really a cartoon, "Dinosaurs" on ABC in the early nineties is also worth a mention. And I vaguely recall something that ran on CBS briefly in the nineties ("Shark Police"?).
TexasTom said:
The DreamWorks Animation-produced CGI NBC cartoon you're thinking of was Father Of The Pride. As for the other one, ah, you're remembering Fish Police. John Ritter (R.I.P.) voiced the main character. Fish Police ran after Family Dog on CBS during the summer of 1992, if I'm not mistaken. That same year ABC (owned back then by Capital Cities Inc; Disney didn't buy the network until 1996) aired the animated series Capitol Critters about mice or rats living in the walls of the U.S. Capitol building. While we're discussing ABC primetime animation, there was also The Critic. It aired on ABC first in 1994, then switched networks and went to FOX for one season in 1995. In July 2000, Clerks: The Animated Series, based of course on Kevin Smith's 1994 film, aired only two episodes - six were made - before ABC went crazy for Regis Philbin. (Kevin Smith stated that UPN had offered him 22 episodes but the ABC suits told him not to listen, as they said that UPN wouldn't be around in 2001. Moral of the story, he said, is "if BET offers you 22 episodes, you take it.")
There was Eddie Murphy's claymation sitcom The PJs which ran briefly on FOX (1999) before heading to The WB for one season (1999-2000). Baby Blues (2000-2002), (based on the comic strip), Mission Hill (1999), and The Oblongs (2001-2002) all ran on The WB in the mid/late '90s. Invasion America also aired on The WB in 1998, in what was a highly-hyped, Spielberg-co-created sci-fi series that ultimately fizzled. UPN aired Dilbert (1999-2000), Game Over (2004), the claymation Gary and Mike (2001), and Home Movies (1999).
Add to this, Bullwinkle aired in primetime in 1961-1962 on NBC as did another animated show on CBS, Calvin And The Colonel, that same season, which was a takeoff of Amos and Andy.
And in syndication, some stations aired Wait Till Your Father Gets Home(1972-1974) in primetime.
Another animated show that CBS aired was Where's Huddles? about a football team and aired in 1970-1971 that aired on Sunday afternoons and briefly in primetime.
And in syndication, some stations aired Wait Till Your Father Gets Home(1972-1974) in primetime.
Another animated show that CBS aired was Where's Huddles? about a football team and aired in 1970-1971 that aired on Sunday afternoons and briefly in primetime.
B
BoscoGoldBear
Guest
Braves2005 said:
Calvin and the Colonel was on ABC, not CBS - it came from the producers of Leave It To Beaver and The Munsters. ABC also had Hanna-Barbera's Top Cat that season
Braves2005 said:
While we're at it, most TV stations had Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw and Yogi Bear from Hanna-Barbera/Columbia TV/Screen Gems right before prime time in the late 1950s/early 1960s
Braves2005 said:
Let's not forget "The New Adventures Of Huck Finn" on NBC Sunday nights at 7. I believe that this was originally supposed to air on Saturday mornings, but those (w)itches over at Action For Children's Television ordered it off because of the "violence" and put on as a sacrifice against "Lassie." Over here in Boston it aired on WBZ-TV 4 on Saturday nights at 7, right before "Adam-12" and "Get Smart;" "Wild Kingdom" went on the air at some undetermined time in "Huck"'s time slot; "Huck Finn" and "Disney" (not to mention the finish of the Jets/Raiders game) were among the shows pre-empted in favor of "Heidi." ;D
Steve N. said:
In 1961-62 CBS had "The Alvin Show," starring a certain
singing chipmunk, on Wednesdays at 7:30. "Huck Finn"
lasted the 1968-69 season and was replaced by "Wild
Kingdom" in the fall of '69. Although not a primetime
animated show, ABC's Friday-night kids' anthology "Off
To See The Wizard" (1967-68) used animated versions of
the "Wizard Of Oz" characters as "hosts."
F
Frasier
Guest
Anyone remember in the late 90's NBC ran a cartoon, I believe a British import, called "Stressed Eric"? The show was dubbed in ads as "Badder Than Bart" and "Spicier Than South Park"?
Yeah, neither do I.
Yeah, neither do I.
ABC did run several primetime cartoons, but that was a long time ago -- back in the early and mid sixties. The ABC primetime cartoons included "The Flinstones", "The Jetsons", and
"Johny Quest".- which I hated! I don't like any cartoon that's not funny. Even back then I thought there was something strange going on there. Then a couple years ago Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law cleared it up for me. But anyway, lets not forget Top Cat and The Bugs Bunny Show were also prime time on ABC.
"Johny Quest".- which I hated! I don't like any cartoon that's not funny. Even back then I thought there was something strange going on there. Then a couple years ago Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law cleared it up for me. But anyway, lets not forget Top Cat and The Bugs Bunny Show were also prime time on ABC.
And don't forget "Matty's Funday Funnies"/
"Beany And Cecil." The former, which began
on Sunday afternoons in 1959, also ran on
Friday nights in the 1960-61 season. It had
the Harvey library (Casper the Friendly Ghost,
Baby Huey, Herman and Katnip, etc.). This
show moved to Saturday nights at 7 in the
fall of 1961.
Then in January 1962 the Harvey characters
were dropped (to resurface on Saturday mornings
on "The New Casper Cartoon Show") and the show
became "Matty's Funnies With Beany And Cecil,"
an animated version of Bob Clampett's puppet characters
seen in syndication in the late '40s/early '50s.
By the summer of '62, when we started getting ABC
in Raleigh, the show was titled "The Beany And Cecil
Show," the name it kept after it left primetime at the
end of calendar year 1962 and continued on Saturday
or Sunday mornings until 1967.
"Beany And Cecil" was, IMO, one of the funniest of the
ABC primetime bunch in the early '60s; Clampett had a
way with puns (I'll never forget the singing dinosaur who
sounded like Dinah Shore). It, Bugs, and Top Cat are my
personal favorites of this era.
"Beany And Cecil." The former, which began
on Sunday afternoons in 1959, also ran on
Friday nights in the 1960-61 season. It had
the Harvey library (Casper the Friendly Ghost,
Baby Huey, Herman and Katnip, etc.). This
show moved to Saturday nights at 7 in the
fall of 1961.
Then in January 1962 the Harvey characters
were dropped (to resurface on Saturday mornings
on "The New Casper Cartoon Show") and the show
became "Matty's Funnies With Beany And Cecil,"
an animated version of Bob Clampett's puppet characters
seen in syndication in the late '40s/early '50s.
By the summer of '62, when we started getting ABC
in Raleigh, the show was titled "The Beany And Cecil
Show," the name it kept after it left primetime at the
end of calendar year 1962 and continued on Saturday
or Sunday mornings until 1967.
"Beany And Cecil" was, IMO, one of the funniest of the
ABC primetime bunch in the early '60s; Clampett had a
way with puns (I'll never forget the singing dinosaur who
sounded like Dinah Shore). It, Bugs, and Top Cat are my
personal favorites of this era.
>>"Beany And Cecil" was, IMO, one of the funniest of the
ABC primetime bunch in the early '60s; Clampett had a
way with puns (I'll never forget the singing dinosaur who
sounded like Dinah Shore). It, Bugs, and Top Cat are my
personal favorites of this era.<<
Bob Clampett was a genius for "double meanings". Beany and Cecil was one of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons of all time. I used to watch it on ABC, back around 1964-1966. Recently, I actually uncovered a pre-recorded VHS cassette of "Beany and Cecil" I bought during a "going out of business sale" of an old video store some years ago. The tape is in pretty good shape, considering. I plan to digitize it into a DVD so that my kids can take a look at it. (Our VHS machines are beginning to go "bye-bye" around the house, due to age.). I believe that Beany and Cecil was one of only a handful of cartoon shows that ABC broadcast in color back in the early to mid 1960's, including The Flintstones and The Jetsons.
ABC primetime bunch in the early '60s; Clampett had a
way with puns (I'll never forget the singing dinosaur who
sounded like Dinah Shore). It, Bugs, and Top Cat are my
personal favorites of this era.<<
Bob Clampett was a genius for "double meanings". Beany and Cecil was one of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons of all time. I used to watch it on ABC, back around 1964-1966. Recently, I actually uncovered a pre-recorded VHS cassette of "Beany and Cecil" I bought during a "going out of business sale" of an old video store some years ago. The tape is in pretty good shape, considering. I plan to digitize it into a DVD so that my kids can take a look at it. (Our VHS machines are beginning to go "bye-bye" around the house, due to age.). I believe that Beany and Cecil was one of only a handful of cartoon shows that ABC broadcast in color back in the early to mid 1960's, including The Flintstones and The Jetsons.
Seems like I remember ABC running Flintstones during prime on Fridays or Saturdays about ten years ago. Ran up against some show starring a family of dinosaurs...the one where the baby always beat his dad with a frying pan
Am I completely lost?
Am I completely lost?
F
Frasier
Guest
I don't know if any other network ran the Flintstones in primetime in the 90's, but you are indeed referring to the aforementioned "Dinosaurs" show that was part of ABC's "TGIF" block back in the day...
"Not the mama!" (clank) "Not the mama!" (clank)
"You do that one more time and I'm going to throw you across the room."
(Pans into the camera) "NOT THE MAMA!!!!!!" (clank)
"Not the mama!" (clank) "Not the mama!" (clank)
"You do that one more time and I'm going to throw you across the room."
(Pans into the camera) "NOT THE MAMA!!!!!!" (clank)
Foe Paw said:
I vaguely remember NBC running 'new' episodes of 'The Flintstones' in the summer of '81, although they were forgettable, 'Henry Corden' episodes.(I've read that NBC actually re-dubbed an Alan Reed episode(or episodes) with Corden's voice, though they may have aired those on Saturday mornings.
ABC, in the early '90s, aired two made for TV Flintstones movies, so it's possible they might have aired those with 'Dinosaurs' as a lead-in.
You can read all about the Warner Bros. characters' long career on network TV (including Bugs' prime time run) at http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/tv/bbshow/ .
bpatrick, you didn't have ABC in the Research Triangle until mid-1962?
Boy, you DID live off the beaten path, didn't you? ;D By that, do you mean an exclusive ABC affiliate? When did the eye and the peacock get their own exclusive affiliates in Raleigh/Durham? (By comparison, Salisbury, MD had one commercial station [WBOC-16], carrying portions of all 3 of the Big 3, until its ABC affiliate [WMDT-47] signed on in 1980(?). And SBY is *still* waiting for an exclusive NBC affiliate [WBOC is now exclusively CBS]).
ixnay
bpatrick, you didn't have ABC in the Research Triangle until mid-1962?
Boy, you DID live off the beaten path, didn't you? ;D By that, do you mean an exclusive ABC affiliate? When did the eye and the peacock get their own exclusive affiliates in Raleigh/Durham? (By comparison, Salisbury, MD had one commercial station [WBOC-16], carrying portions of all 3 of the Big 3, until its ABC affiliate [WMDT-47] signed on in 1980(?). And SBY is *still* waiting for an exclusive NBC affiliate [WBOC is now exclusively CBS]).ixnay
ixnay said:You can read all about the Warner Bros. characters' long career on network TV (including Bugs' prime time run) at http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/tv/bbshow/ .
bpatrick, you didn't have ABC in the Research Triangle until mid-1962?
ixnay
In 1962 the Research Triangle Park hadn't been built yet; then-Gov. Terry Sanford had
made it a pet project but it didn't actually open until the mid-'60s, after I'd left
the area. Mostly there were state government workers in Raleigh, tobacco-factory
workers in Durham, and university personnel in Chapel Hill in '62.
As for the affiliation situation, we'd had three back in '56 and '57: WRAL was NBC,
WTVD was ABC, and WNAO/28 was CBS. WNAO folded early in '58, WTVD picked up
a CBS primary affiliation/ABC secondary, and WRAL began airing NBC primary/ABC
secondary by 1959.
We did get The Flintstones and Bugs Bunny on delay until WRAL became the exclusive
ABC affiliate on August 1, 1962 (as well as most of the more popular non-animated
ABC shows); we did get a few "live" clearances such as The Fight Of The Week on
WRAL before 8/1/62.
On that date, TVD became CBS primary/NBC secondary, and would remain so for
nine years, even after WRDU/28 signed on in 1968. It was 28's complaint to the
FCC that it was being stuck with leftovers (read, lower-rated shows) that TVD
didn't want that led to the FCC's ordering TVD to choose either CBS or NBC as
its exclusive network; it became CBS exclusively in 1971 and remained so until
becoming an ABC o&o in 1985.
But lest you think the Triangle was "in the sticks," not one market in the Tarheel
State had an exclusive ABC affiliate (unless you count WLOS Asheville, part of
the Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville market) before 1962. WGHP Greensboro/
Winston-Salem/High Point and WCTI Greenville/New Bern/Washington signed on
in 1963; WCCB Charlotte and WWAY Wilmington in '64. In a really unusual
arrangement, WBTV, WSOC, and WCCB all held affiliations with all three networks
until 1967, when WBTV became CBS exclusive, WSOC, NBC, and WCCB, ABC.
In 1978, ABC switched to WSOC, WCCB became independent (now Fox), and
WRET/36 got NBC.
But then again, ABC had exclusive affiliates in Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke/Lynchburg,
Columbia, and Charleston, SC, by 1962.
To me, the original Flintstones were the best, hands down...any incarnation of the Flintstones since then (except maybe the Flintstone Kids for me) just pale in comparsion. I'm 26 (going on 27), and I've seen the original Flintstones reruns pretty much since birth, and I was 6 when the Flintstone Kids premiered on ABC's Saturday morning lineup. I never saw any of the other incarnations, but I've seen a few of the made-for-TV movies, and the John Goodman-starred theatrical film. Currently, my favorite prime-time cartoon is Family Guy, but it used to be The Simpsons and South Park (to a lesser extent). I feel like every time I see a current Simpsons episode, it's like I've seen a similar episode with the same exact premise. As for South Park, I've liked the earlier episodes because it was more kinda slapstick and dark humor, but now, its focus is totally changed, becoming more preachy.
My most underrated prime-time cartoon (and it also aired concurrently on Weekday afternoons) was Fox's Batman: The Aminated Series from the early 1990s. The animation, especially for its time, was probably most superb on television I've probably ever seen, very similar in tone (minus the somewhat-vulgar lanuguage) to the Michael Keaton films. When the show moved from Fox to The WB around '95 or '96, it was repackaged and just looked like any ordinary action cartoon to me.
My most underrated prime-time cartoon (and it also aired concurrently on Weekday afternoons) was Fox's Batman: The Aminated Series from the early 1990s. The animation, especially for its time, was probably most superb on television I've probably ever seen, very similar in tone (minus the somewhat-vulgar lanuguage) to the Michael Keaton films. When the show moved from Fox to The WB around '95 or '96, it was repackaged and just looked like any ordinary action cartoon to me.
bpatrick said:
Sorry to revive this thread, but the RTP bit has been gnawing at my brain tonight.
According to http://www.rtp.org/main/index.php?pid=151&sec=1, as well as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Triangle_Park the first segment of RTP opened in 1959.
ixnay
- Status